Tiger Ragtime (16 page)

Only Micah, Helga, and Edyth appeared to be at ease. But Judy recalled that Edyth’s father was an MP, albeit a socialist one, and Micah and Helga’s father had been a pastor. And as Micah had followed his father into the profession, they were used to moving in ‘class’ company.

Aled James was waiting for them beside a circular table in prime position in the centre of the room. He was talking to the head waiter who was listening, head bowed and attentive, to his every word. The table had been laid for eleven and a dozen ice buckets were set on stands around the perimeter; half contained bottles of champagne and half mineral water. In the centre was a magnificent floral arrangement of gold and red rosebuds so similar to the one the cloakroom attendant had taken from Judy, it was obvious it had come from the same florists.

Judy suddenly realised that Aled James’s invitation hadn’t been made on the spur of the moment. The flowers on the table and in the theatre, the booking in the hotel restaurant, the champagne – all suggested that this dinner had been planned for hours, possibly even days.

Aled smiled at her. ‘Thank you so much for accepting my invitation, Miss King. I am grateful.’

She nodded, too overwhelmed to speak.

The head waiter clicked his fingers and a platoon of subordinates moved in, smartly and silently pulling out chairs, shaking napkins and placing them on the guests’ laps as soon as they were seated. A sheaf of leather menu holders appeared at the place settings.

‘Champagne while my guests make their choices.’ Aled watched two of Judy’s uncles station themselves protectively either side of her. He didn’t attempt to sit close to her. Instead he took the vacant chair on Edyth’s left after Micah had taken the one on Edyth’s right. As soon as he was seated, Aled raised the glass the wine waiter had filled for him. ‘Ladies,’ he nodded to Judy, her aunts, Helga and Edyth, ‘and gentlemen, the very good health of the new star we saw born on the stage of the New Theatre this evening.’

Edyth drank the toast, and gave Judy, who looked distinctly uncomfortable, a reassuring smile before opening the menu. She was used to the prices in the Park Hotel and New Inn in Pontypridd, neither of which was cheap, but this menu had no prices at all, which she found disconcerting. And, despite Aled James’s close physical resemblance to Harry, and his polite, mannered, almost too correct behaviour, she found him disturbing.

If anyone had asked her exactly why Aled James made her feel edgy she couldn’t have given any sounder reason other than his American accent didn’t ring true, his smile didn’t thaw the ice in his eyes, and his manners were too polished for sincerity.

Aled saw her staring at him and broadened his smile. Edyth immediately resumed her study of the menu.

‘May I recommend the caviar, lobster mousse or smoked salmon for starters, the fillets of beef or chicken a la king – very appropriate, don’t you think – for the I, and the dessert trolley to finish. The chef’s creations in that department have to be seen to be believed.’ Aled hadn’t opened his menu, a fact that wasn’t lost on Edyth. ‘I’ve heard that you are reopening the old Sea Breeze as a nightclub, Mr James,’ Micah commented.

Edyth had heard Micah asking around the bar for information about Aled James during the intermission. He had also met Harry, and although they hadn’t had time to discuss Aled James’s likeness to her brother, Edyth knew the similarity between them hadn’t been lost on Micah.

‘I am, Pastor –’

‘Micah, please! No one except the children call me Pastor outside of the mission,’ Micah interrupted.

‘My interest in the Sea Breeze is the primary reason I’ve invited you here.’ Aled turned to the head waiter who was hovering behind his chair. ‘Max, take our order so we can begin discussing business.’

Edyth and Helga chose the smoked salmon and chicken, Judy and her aunts shyly followed suit, and when Micah ordered the caviar and the beef, Judy’s uncles and Moody repeated his order. Aled settled for the lobster mousse and beef.

‘As you said, Micah,’ Aled signalled to the wine waiter to replenish their water and champagne glasses, ‘I am opening the old Sea Breeze as a nightclub and I am looking for a resident singer. I was hoping that Miss King would consider the position.’

‘Me, a nightclub singer?’ Judy looked at him in astonishment.

‘My offer isn’t based on your performance this evening, Miss King, although, I haven’t seen such a display of talent since I left America. In fact, come to think of it, I didn’t see anyone who could bear comparison to you there. I heard you sing at the carnival on the day I arrived back in this country and when I asked around the Bay, everyone who had seen the Bute Street Blues Band spoke highly of you.’

‘But I sing with the band –ʼ

‘The band is hardly up to your standard, Judy. The people around here hire us for local events but it’s principally so they can listen to you. You’re the only one of us who is talented enough to be classed as a professional, and it’s my guess that it’s a professional Mr James wants to hire.’ Micah realised that Aled James was offering Judy an opportunity that could give her the break into show business she had so desperately been looking for. And in her home territory, where her uncles could continue to look after her.

‘Micah is right,’ Aled asserted. ‘I am looking for someone who can draw in and hold an audience, and tonight you proved you can do just that. Your solo won the loudest applause in the theatre.’

‘You’re very kind …’

‘When you get to know me better, you’ll realise I am anything but, Miss King,’ Aled refuted. ‘When it comes to employing artistes for my nightclubs I am swayed by talent and talent alone. And you are exceptionally talented.’

‘Thank you.’ Judy’s cheeks burned at the compliment.

‘I am about to hire a full orchestra that will, of course, back you if you take the job. It’s my intention to offer both musical entertainment and dancing in the club. If the members of the Bute Street Blues Band would like to audition for the orchestra, they will receive due consideration.’ He looked past Edyth to Micah.

‘I know my limitations, besides, I have a day job.’ Micah saw Aled place his hand close to Edyth’s on the tablecloth and he moved his chair nearer to hers.

‘The three Mr Kings, perhaps? I’ll let you know when we’ll be holding auditions for musicians. That way you can keep an eye on your niece.’

‘We’re all working on the Sea Breeze now, as builders.’ Tony had finally found his voice.

‘I know.’ Aled leaned back in his chair so the waiter could set a plate of smoked salmon and thin-cut brown bread and lemon in front of Edyth.

‘And we’re sailors by trade,’ Ron added, ‘not musicians.’

‘That’s not to say we won’t take any work that’s offered us,’ Jed broke in. ‘Jobs are scarce at the moment. I hope you don’t mind me coming directly to the point, Mr James, but what exactly are you offering Judy?’

‘Five nights’ work a week, Tuesday to Saturday, seven until three a.m. A respectable chauffeur escort to and from the club, all stage costumes, the services of a dresser, and ten pounds a week salary.’

‘Ten pounds?’ Judy’s eyes rounded in disbelief.

‘You’ll earn it,’ Aled said dryly. ‘As for your stage costumes: I warn you I will be very particular about what you’ll wear.’

‘Skimpy costumes?’ Jed asked warily.

‘For the chorus girls, certainly, for the star, no. It’s Miss King’s singing I’m interested in, Mr King, nothing else. If you accept the position, Miss King, I will ask my solicitor to draw up a contract tomorrow. That way, your solicitor,’ he looked from Jed to Micah, ‘can look it over. I know that Miss King has a cast-iron contract with the New Theatre for the next four weeks. I propose my contract and her wages begin the day after it terminates. And just so we enjoy the rest of this meal, I don’t expect you to give me an answer right away, Miss King.’ He clicked his fingers at the wine waiter and pointed to their glasses. ‘Now, shall we discuss
Peter Pan
? I have seen the show before, on Broadway, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did this evening’s performance and that has to be down to the actress who played Tiger Lily.’

During the meal Judy was aware of the large party from the theatre, principally because the producer, director, and leading actors persisted in complaining long and loud about everything from their plates being cold to the slow response of the wine waiter when it came to refilling their glasses, to the salt cellars being damp. They had been seated at a long table at the end of the room. And although she was sitting with her back to them, Judy suspected that their complaints stemmed from the head waiter’s delegation of the theatre’s table to a subordinate’s care, so he could bestow his full attention on Aled James and his table.

She didn’t dare turn around to look at her fellow performers, but when Lennie went to the cloakroom he returned by a roundabout route, so he could give her a broad and sympathetic wink. She responded with a small smile that was noticed by Aled.

‘You get on with Smee, Miss King?’ he asked in amusement.

‘Lennie – the actor who plays him – was very kind to me and all the other new girls during rehearsals. He knows all there is to know about stagecraft and he has a marvellous sense of humour,’ she added, trying to forget the acidic comments Lennie had made to Jeremy.

‘He was good,’ Aled mused thoughtfully. ‘Stan Peterson suggested that I employ a comic for the club as well as a singer. Perhaps I should talk to this Smee and see what he’s like out of character.’

‘He stole the show from Captain Hook,’ Micah commented.

‘He certainly got more laughs.’ Moody would have never dared voice his opinion if he hadn’t drunk two glasses of champagne which had gone straight to his head.

‘That wasn’t too difficult given the stilted performance of the actor playing the role,’ Aled said loudly. He’d suspected from the way Jeremy Dupois was leaning towards their table that he was listening in on every word that he and the others were saying. He was sure of it when Jeremy turned purple. ‘Max?’ Aled hailed the head waiter who was hovering attentively at his elbow. ‘I think we’re ready for coffee and the dessert trolley now. And brandies?’ He looked around at his guests.

‘Not for me, thank you. I have to be up early in the morning,’ Micah refused.

‘And we’ll be painting wonky lines on the wood and walls of your club if we have any,’ Tony added.

Aled showed off the contents of the dessert trolley as if he were personally responsible for the elegant confections, then waited until everyone had made their choice from the creams, mousses, soufflés, and iced puddings, before turning to Edyth and asking the question she sensed he had been waiting to broach all evening.

‘Mrs Slater, I had the impression that you thought you knew me when you saw me at the theatre.’

‘Did you?’ she replied, aware that her answer would irritate him.

‘I did. I also happened to see someone who looked just like me at the carnival. Is he a friend of yours?’

‘No, Mr James.’

‘Please, call me Aled.’ He laid his hand over hers on the table. She pulled it away and looked to Micah for support. He was engrossed in conversation with Jed and Moody. But as though he sensed her appealing to him, he turned and slipped his arm around her shoulders. She had never felt closer to him and gave him a grateful smile.

‘An acquaintance perhaps?’ Aled pressed.

‘My brother.’ She dropped her spoon on her gooseberry fool and pushed the bowl away from her.

‘You don’t like it?’ Aled noticed that she had scarcely touched her dessert.

‘It’s a little rich for me.’

‘His name? Your brother’s name,’ he repeated when she didn’t answer him.

She looked Aled directly in the eye. ‘Harry Evans. Do you know him?’

‘I believe I do. If he is the man I am thinking of, we were foster-brothers when we were children, in the Rhondda Valley.’

‘You’re from the Rhondda?’ Edyth had been born in Pontypridd but she knew her parents had moved there from the Rhondda Valley after her elder sister Bella’s birth. She also knew that Harry’s father had died before Harry was born and a few years before her parents had married. But it wasn’t something that her parents – or Harry – had discussed with her and her sisters, other than when they had told them that Harry’s fortune came from his real father’s family.

‘Clydach Vale.’ Aled watched her intently. ‘My mother used to look after children whose parents could not care for them. That’s how I met Harry. He was one of her foster children.’

‘I think you must be mistaken. I can’t imagine my mother handing over Harry, or any of us children, to someone else to bring up, not even for a short while,’ Edyth said tartly.

‘I believe your mother was in hospital at the time, but,’ he gave her one of his cold smiles, ‘I may be mistaken. I was only a child myself. Tell me, Mrs Slater, what does your brother do for a living?’ After making extensive enquiries Aled knew as much about Harry’s personal circumstances as any member of his family – and probably more about his business and financial affairs than anyone other than Harry and the trustees of his estate – but he continued to probe.

‘My brother works in a family business.’

‘And what would that be?’ Aled persisted. ‘Shops,’ Edyth replied shortly.

‘Big? Small?’ He widened his frosty smile when Edyth gave him a hard look.

‘It’s no secret, Mr James, my brother owns Gwilym James.’

‘The chain of department stores.’ Aled nodded sagely. ‘I can see now why you bought the bakery. You clearly come from a family of entrepreneurs.’

‘My father brought all of us up to earn our own livings, Mr James.’

‘Please, call me Aled.’

‘Very well – Aled.’

‘You are married, Mrs Slater?’

‘My husband and I are separated.’ Knowing from Micah’s enquiries that Aled had been living in the Windsor Hotel for a couple of weeks, Edyth didn’t doubt that he’d picked up all the Bay gossip, including the full story of her failed marriage.

‘You are very young. You couldn’t have been married long.’

‘A few months.’ She looked to Micah again, but Jed had commandeered his attention.